Injections and other procedures requiring the piercing of the skin have been a necessary part of medical treatment for humans and animals for centuries. Painful injections into and through the skin for immunizations, medication administration, blood sugar testing, phlebotomy, IV placement, and the like, are usually done without the use of a local or topical anesthetic. This results in an unpleasant experience for most adults, and may be an extremely traumatic event for children or other sensitive persons.
At times, the fear or aversion to these types of procedures may lead to noncompliance of treatments and testing by adults and children alike. Products to reduce the pain of injections and similar procedures do exist but have significant drawbacks and are not used often because of these limitations.
There is a need in the art for improved systems, methods, and devices for reducing or eliminating pain from injections and related procedures.